Oct 2, 2018

Oya Super-Dreadnought

Built upon radically different design principles than the mainstay super-dreadnoughts of the fleets of The Eastern Federation, Union, and State, the Oya Class Super-Dreadnought of the Southern Bloc is named after the Nigerian orisha of winds, lightning, and violent storms, death and rebirth.

Twin habitat rings rotating inside their armature are able to reorient independently along their vertical axis, with the primary central bulkhead featuring a massive fighter and drone bay port flanked by ten tactical nuclear launchers and an array of smaller point defense HED lance batteries. The inner rings' rotation inside the armature is stopped during combat engagements and they're brought in line with the ship's main hull, thus protected from frontal incoming fire and this also means the entire ship crew experiences zero-g environment and they're required to use special harnesses to prevent them from being injured during combat maneuvers.

The youngest of the five largest polities on Earth, the Southern Bloc has had to proceed cautiously into a crowded solar system, all the while carefully laying the groundwork for the ascendance that it sees as its birthright.

The Oya Class Super-Dreadnought represents these aspirations; while smaller and less maneuverable than the standard super-dreadnought classes used by its competitors, the Oya maintains 32% higher fighter and drone hangar tonnage, along with 68% greater tactical nuclear missile stocks, both factors allowing it to punch unusually hard and for an unusually long time compared to other ships of its type.

Following the Sino-Russian War of 2105 and the subsequent annexation of Pakistan by what would become The Eastern Federation in 2140, India, alarmed that it would soon become the next target, began to reach out to other polities on the political and military periphery of China. A collection of national polities including India, Turkey, Kenya, Tanzania, parts of West Africa, and South Africa began to be informally known as "the Southern Bloc", as they tended to provide a unified front against territorial and commercial incursions by both Union and the Eastern Federation. At last, in 2353 the informal coalition became a formal political entity.

Militarily, the Southern Bloc favors a bold, powerful approach. To this end it has prioritized the construction of a series of powerful dreadnoughts and super-dreadnoughts, which represent the highest ratio of tonnage of this class of vessel of any polity in the solar system; while the Southern Bloc does employ destroyers and frigates, these are seen in a far less prestigious light.